Information Technology (IT) Director

The IT Director is responsible for overseeing the Schwarzman Scholars Program (SSP) Technology Group. The IT Director is responsible for establishing the College’s technical vision and direction, and for leading all aspects of technology development and operations for a college that operates within both a local and global technology context and standards. This position is responsible for oversight of existing systems, while providing direction in all technology-related areas in support of classroom instruction, research and operations. This position is also responsible for managing the existing IT team- an IT Manager and Program help desk engineers – and aligning the team with strategic technical priorities. The position requires an emphasis on quality, reliability, high standards and innovation while maintaining the highest degree of systems integrity and availability in a complex, multi-vendor, multi-platform environment.

Main Responsibilities:

1. Lead a team of professionals in the planning, design, deployment, integration and maintenance of the College’s mission critical applications.
2. Working across teams at the college and with the other members of the SSP-IT group, specify hardware and software requirements and standards for application services and development platforms that meet both local and cutting-edge global technology standards.
3. Provide high-level, training and guidance to other SSP-IT staff regarding the College’s applications.
4. Participate in the evaluation of new and emerging global technologies in application development area for their suitability and usability within the College’s environment.
5. Work with Tsinghua University staff as necessary on the issues of application integration and customization to ensure interoperability between SSP applications and the core services offered by the university.
6. Interact with the College’s faculty, administration and students to assess their needs.
7. Take a leadership role in handling all emergencies and troubleshooting efforts in the application services area as necessary.
8. Participate in designing and implementing business continuity and disaster planning processes, such as: backup and restore procedures and application security auditing.
9. Maintain up-to-date knowledge of new technologies, best practices and current trends in the field of software engineering, with a focus on the education sector.
10. Manage assigned project tasks to ensure timely and high quality outcomes. Provide regular status reports on assigned projects to inform the process of establishing institutional priorities for College-wide technology projects.

Required Qualifications

1. Bachelor’s degree and 8-10 years relevant experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.
2. Demonstrated technical and leadership skills.
3. Demonstrated project management experiences and capabilities.
4. Strong sense of processes, procedures, and documentations.
5. Demonstrate fluency and bilingual language skills: English and Mandarin Chinese, oral and written.
6. Comprehensive knowledge of and experience with a major web server package, such as MS Internet Information Server, Apache or equivalent.
7. Strong knowledge of Windows Server administration, MS SQL Server, MySQL, TCP/IP and related protocols and standards. Demonstrable experience with current and emerging new media technologies, such as XML, audio and video streaming tools.
8. Knowledge of UML and Design tools such as Visio is desirable.
9. Well developed skills in oral & written communications, teamwork, analysis, problem solving, planning and R&D. Ability to work with flexible and changing assignments.
10. Ability to collaborate effectively with and be an advocate for faculty, staff and students.
11. Strong comprehension of user interface concepts for the web.
12. Strong service orientation.
13. Preference for a global orientation; experience working across countries and regions

Required Skills

1. Product Excellence – Provide the best quality product available and continuously upgrade standards to maintain quality.
2. Leadership – Provide direction and motivation to others through communication, modeling appropriate behavior, optimism and high achievement.
3. Strategic Thinking – Recognize opportunities, identify critical, high pay-off activities and prioritize them to attain goals.
4. Innovative – Openness to new ideas and their implementation. Ability to react and adapt to changing situations appropriately.
5. Teamwork/Communication – Working cooperatively to achieve common goals. Support cooperation, collaboration and the sharing of information.